Chris Gibson to report $269G raised since October

U.S. Rep. Chris Gibson’s re-election campaign will report raising $269,584 since October in his year-end campaign finance disclosure report to be filed tomorrow with the Federal Elections Commission, Gibson’s spokeswoman, Stephanie Valle, said.

That 4th quarter haul — about $9,000 more than the Kinderhook Republican raised in the third quarter of last year — will leave the two-term incumbent with $863,338 on hand to spend as ballot petitioning ramps up a month from now, Valle said.

Gibson faces a challenge in the 11-county 19th Congressional District from Ulster County investor Sean Eldridge, a Democrat whose ability to devote a chunk of his own fortune to his campaign makes Gibson a relatively rare incumbent who may find himself consistently trailing in the money race.

His campaign acknowledged as much at the last filing deadline but also expressed confidence that it would have more than enough cash to win.

At the October deadline Gibson would have raised more money than Eldridge had Eldridge not poured $465,000 of his own money into his campaign through matching contributions.

Eldridge, the husband of Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes, led Gibson in cash on hand at the time roughly $956,000 to $653,000.

Valle said Gibson’s filing will reflect that 52 percent of the money raised came from individuals, with 70 percent of the contributions from within the district, 85 percent from upstate New York and 92 percent from within New York.

With Eldridge’s money, the relatively closely divided voter enrollment statistics in the district (there’s a slight Republican edge) and Gibson’s efforts to cultivate an image as an across-the-aisle-reaching “no labels” moderate, The Cook Political Report has the district leaning Republican.